Whether you're hopelessly amorous or only reluctantly romantic, Londonsimmers with all manner of dating opportunities. Whittling the merely mediocre from the truly impressive, a selection of London's most knowledgeable bloggers and Telegraph staff provide their recommendations for the London dating venues and experiences most conducive to romance. Although always popular when couples are looking for things to do on Valentine's Day in London, these are year-long dating options so there's plenty of time to work your way through the list (assuming your relationship lasts long enough). Read on for their selection, which are in no particular order, and let us know which London dates made the best impression on you by commenting below, emailing london@telegraph.co.uk or tweeting @TelegraphLondon using #londonsbestdates.

Whether you’re in the first throes of romance or you’ve been married for years, a Harvey Nichols Cocktail Master Class makes a fabulous date. Why? For starters, it’s posh enough to be special but relaxed enough to put anyone (over 18) at ease. Secondly, it’s just that little bit different, getting you into the spirit of things right from the word go. That’s down to the host Stani Visciano. He’s an absolute charmer, flirting a bit with the ladies, chatting with the gents, while stirring and shaking themed cocktails. It’s very much an interactive affair and as the drinks get passed around for tasting everyone gets chatting; if you’re just getting to know your partner here’s your chance to assess their social skills. The best bit comes when you’re invited to get behind the glamorous circular bar to concoct your own cocktail - its heaps of fun and guaranteed to unleash your inner showman. After the group activity it’s on to a table for two at the adjoining Fifth Floor Restaurant, where a fabulous lunch awaits. For a romantic post-dinner stroll, Hyde Park is just around the corner.

Classes take place on Saturdays, 10am-12pm and cost £60 per person, including tasting and lunch. For reservation enquiries, contact 020 7235 5250

The Cocktail Lovers are Mr G and Ms S, a married couple that carries out painstaking research in the capital’s best cocktail bars. Cocktail connoisseurs, their rolodex of informed recommendations is highly sought after. Follow them @cocktaillovers

Hugh Wright’s best date: private dining at Quo Vadis

Taken over by the heavenly Hart brothers and revitalised with the arrival of new head chef Jeremy Lee, Quo Vadis on Dean Street is suddenly the hottest restaurant in town again. Lee’s signature British menu offers plenty of made-for-sharing dishes well suited to romance including oysters, whole roast fish and roasts - shoulder of kid is advertised as being ‘for three or four’ but would make a splendid lovers’ banquet. For the ultimate discreet date without missing out on the buzz, wow your Valentine by booking the secret semi-private Snug just off the see-and-be-seen main room. Usually accommodating up to six diners, it can be booked for just two on request - its existence isn't advertised anywhere so this is strictly one for the cognoscenti. Hollywood A-Listers have already caught on; I recently spotted Ralph Fiennes dining a deux in the Snug with a mystery lady.

Hugh Wright writes the restaurant blog TwelvePointFivePercent.com, covering all manner of restaurants from fish ‘n’ chips shops to fine dining. He also blogs regularly about London’s restaurant scene for The Telegraph. Follow him @HRWright

Tom Jones’s choice: Eltham Palace

Inside the beautifully decorated Eltham Palace. Image: Alamy

Given to Edward II as a royal residence, Eltham Palace in south-east London dates back to at least the 14th century but is today better known as a romantic Art Deco treasure. It became the home of Stephen and Virginia Courtauld, who met while Stephen was climbing in the Alps at Courmayeur; and they settled there after marrying. Maintained by English Heritage and regularly open to the public, the palace’s Tudor great hall – where Herny VIII played as a child - contrasts starkly with the stylish 1930s living quarters and gardens they shared with Mah Jong, their pet lemur. The sumptuous setting and their home’s lavish design make the palace eternally popular with dating couples – on your visit be sure to check out Virginia Courtauld’s gold-plated bathroom and make time for a private picnic on the estate’s manicured lawns.

Zoe Craig’s choice: Sample the best of Brixton

The classic film-then-food date is freshened up in Brixton. Image: Alamy

The best dates are a delicate balance of the familiar and the intriguing. To achieve this, try Brixton, where the everyday and unexpected stand side by side. Start with a romantic film at the Brixton Ritzy. It’s one of London's finest Picturehouse cinemas and hosts plenty of special events so you can surprise your date with a post-film Q&A with the director or something from the NT Live programme, where theatre performances are broadcast live to cinemas around the world. Afterwards, head around the corner where you can reveal your more adventurous side. Seven at Brixton is a casual, low-lit pintxos-and-cocktail place in Brixton Market Row. Go upstairs, where the two of you can find a quiet corner and share some delicious Basque Country tapas. Fuel your date's relaxed banter with excellent £5 cocktails. (Try the Electric Avenue, a winning mix of apple vodka, pomegranate juice and marmalade.) A date who took me on a similar date here a few years ago made a particularly good impression on me – reader, I married him.

Zoe Craig is deputy managing editor of visitlondon.com, the official visitor website for London. You can read the Visit London blog here or follow @visitlondon

CTS’s best date: Haunted Histories Walks

If roses, chocolates and hearts scare you senseless and old-fashioned, schmaltzy dates makes you want to hurl, then how about taking your beloved on a ghost walk around spooky Smithfield in East London instead. Haunted Histories Walks run regular tours of East London, and are surprisingly conducive to romance – with tours recounting chilling tales of sinister occurrences and bloodcurdling murders, there are plenty of opportunities to cuddle up for comfort as you traipse the cold streets of London. In that respect it’s just as effective as watching a scary movie together, but you can do something educational too. Double win. And once you’ve scared yourselves silly, you can warm up and snuggle in the delightfully named Butcher’s Hook and Cleaver pub (61 West Smithfield), for a feast of pies, sausages and pork scratchings.

Single since ‘time immemorial’, CTS has committed to going on one first date every week for a year. She's chronicling her dating dramas at www.52firstdates.com and blogs about dating for The Telegraph. Follow her @C_T_S.

Hidden London’s choice: Keats House, Hampstead

Keats House in Hampstead. Image: Greg Balfour Evans / Alamy

Romance still resonates through Keats House in Hampstead, which is now a museum dedicated to its famous former resident: the poet John Keats. It was here that he fell in love with the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, and wrote Ode to a Nightingale and most of his other best-known works, but their relationship was doomed to end prematurely. He contracted tuberculosis and died at the age of just 25. The museum’s collection of memorabilia includes books, paintings, letters, keepsakes and even the engagement ring Keats gave his beloved. If you’re the type who likes to do your homework before a cultural outing, you might like to view Jane Campion’s Bright Star, a film to which your tour guide may well make a few references. Opening days to Keats House vary throughout the year so be sure to check in advance of your visit. Whenever you do go, however, you can expect to see plenty of couples enthralled by the household and the sad story of young love lost.

Hidden London is a website devoted to the capital’s lesser-known places, with a new section called ‘The Guide’ that focuses on relatively recherché attractions with qualities that make them worth visiting, or at least stopping to admire on your way past.

Secret London’s choice: taking the Thames Clipper to Greenwich

The Thames Clipper service provide a different perspective of London. Image: Krys Bailey / Alamy

It's always surprising how many Londoners haven't taken the Thames Clipper sevice to Greenwich, which always feels like a day out of London. It’s a great excursion, passing many original London landmarks as they were meant to be seen: from the river. Coming back after dark is magical, passing under Tower Bridge with the lights of the City shimmering on the Thames. In Greenwich, there’s an endless choice of romantic things to do to pass the day. Listen to Handel’s Water Music in a private booth at the Maritime Museum, or run hand-in-hand through the spooky Greenwich Foot Tunnel. Admire the ceiling of the Painted Hall in the Old Royal Naval College or buy an old-fashioned game to play together in the traditional games shop Compendia in Greenwich market. For a meal, try The Guildford Arms for no-nonsense, beautifully made British food.

Address: you can access the Thames Clipper route map and timetable here.

Secret London is a guide to the hidden corners of London from travel writer Kieran Meeke, who is also editor-in-chief of the iPad-only TRVL magazine. Follow him on Twitter @SecretLDN.

Obsessed with London’s choice: dinner at Dans le Noir?

Dans le Noir?: we love what they've done with the place.

Above all, a date should be memorable and, if nothing else, dinner at Dans Le Noir? makes for a meal you’ll never forget. The restaurant’s name means ‘in the dark?’ and diners eat devoid of any natural or artificial light source, in a pitch-black room. Guided by blind staff, you work your way through a mystery meal – you can order a menu for meat or seafood eaters or vegetarians but aren’t told what you’ll be served – and so have the chance to experience food (and your date) free from preconceptions based on visual cues; instead the focus is on taste and smell (and conversation ). Phones and other distractions are checked at the door so for an hour it’s just you and your date, and 58 others. Expect a few culinary surprises and a new perspective on dining. For a more traditional end to your meal there’s a lit bar for post-dinner drinks or, even better, you can access the nearby Zetter Townhouse cocktail lounge, where sumptuous concoctions and a crackling fire await.

John O’ Ceallaigh’s choice: Wilton’s Music Hall

Intimate, and free, musical performances are held at the hall's Mahogany Bar. Image: James Perry

Wilton’s Music Hall’s faded grandeur is all the more unexpected when viewed against the characterless facades that surround it. Buffeted by cab shops and takeaways in an unprepossessing corner of Whitechapel, the world’s oldest music hall has attracted courting couples since 1858. In those glory days, its ornate grand hall and gilded interior were an obvious draw; decades of dereliction mean modern-day visitors now discover a crumbling, timeworn building that beautifully evokes a vanished past. That’s not to say it’s a musty relic. Concerts, plays and cabaret performances are regularly held at the venue, and on most Mondays – always check the listings – musicians perform free old-fashioned tunes in the hall’s intimate Mahogany Bar. It’s well worth taking in a tour of the hall (£6) from 6pm on the same evening, and then lingering to hear whatever performance is scheduled, all the while sipping good-value beer or wine at your leisure.

GLP’s choice: cabaret aboard Battersea Barge

The performance space at Battersea Barge. Image: Battersea Barge

A date is a careful balancing act between seeming original and not looking too kooky, all the while turning what’s essentially an extended interview into an effortless evening of endless entertainment. Enter cabaret as the solution – whether it’s terrible or terrific it’ll give you plenty to talk about. To add some extra interest, why not throw a barge into the mix? Battersea Barge isn't the easiest place to get to, but that's half the fun. Navigate through the nearby riverside industrial roads and you'll come to the static vessel’s little white gangway. Think twice before donning the six-inch stilettos. Inside is a bar that's a true quirky treasure – kitschy in a good way, with an intimate atmosphere but surprisingly spacious. Upstairs there are sweeping views of the Thames. Down the spiral stairs is a well-stocked bar area with a small stage. Be warned that acts can be pretty risqué, but the standard is high. Add to that some of London's friendliest staff, and first-rate finger food, and you've got yourself a pretty memorable night – just make sure you order a taxi in advance to get you home.

GLP is a guide to the quirkier side of London, celebrating the great little places in the capital that are brimming with character, unforgettable and individual, be they bars, museums, restaurants, galleries or otherwise. Follow GLP on Facebook here or @GLPLondon.

Telegraph Dating - a place where you can have fun getting to know like-minded people in a safe and secure environment.